Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD of heavenly forces!
1
What a beautiful home, God of the Angel Armies! I've always longed to live in a place like this,
2 My very being longs, even yearns, for the LORD's courtyards. My heart and my body will rejoice out loud to the living God!
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Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
3 Yes, the sparrow too has found a home there; the swallow has found herself a nest where she can lay her young beside your altars, LORD of heavenly forces, my king, my God!
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Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God of the Angel Armies! King! God!
4 Those who live in your house are truly happy; they praise you constantly. Selah
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How blessed they are to live and sing there!
5 Those who put their strength in you are truly happy; pilgrimage is in their hearts.
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And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel;
6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, they make it a spring of water. Yes, the early rain covers it with blessings.
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They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
7 They go from strength to strength, until they see the supreme God in Zion.
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God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn - Zion! God in full view!
8 LORD God of heavenly forces, hear my prayer; listen closely, Jacob's God! Selah
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God of the Angel Armies, listen: O God of Jacob, open your ears - I'm praying!
9 Look at our shield, God; pay close attention to the face of your anointed one!
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Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
10 Better is a single day in your courtyards than a thousand days anywhere else! I would prefer to stand outside the entrance of my God's house than live comfortably in the tents of the wicked!
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One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
11 The LORD is a sun and shield; God is favor and glory. The LORD gives—doesn't withhold!—good things to those who walk with integrity.
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All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions.
12 LORD of heavenly forces, those who trust in you are truly happy!
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It's smooth sailing all the way with God of the Angel Armies.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.